After taking a few seasons off, my family has started watching The Voice again this year.
We watched the first two seasons with the original coaching lineup, but missed the Shakira/Usher years as well as the reunion with Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green.
This year, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell round out (or square off) the cast, with veterans — and future buddy film stars — Blake Shelton and Adam Levine returning as usual.
The Voice has always been about the judges far more than the singers. I guess that’s true of all of these singing competitions. But the fact that this show remains so popular despite its horrible track record of producing actual stars is a testament to the chemistry of the stars in the big red chairs.
The only Voice competitor I can name after six seasons is Dia Frampton, and that’s because she really made an impression on me during the show’s debut seasons, picking interesting covers and whisper-singing her way into the finals.
But neither she nor the anonymous soul singer who beat her made any sort of splash in the industry after the show aired.
I just learned from Wikipedia that Frampton put out an album, was dropped by her label and has since formed a band called Archis. Their latest single is today’s SOTD.
Fell to the ground
I hid every welt
I made every round
I drank till dark
My family cried
Trouble I find, choose is aside
But I had enough
I had enough
Don’t let them win
Don’t let them get
Under your skin, into your head
They’re full of it
You’re full of love
You prove them right if you give it up
So let’s go for blood
Let’s go for blood
I’ve got my words
They’re gonna cut
Sure it took a while to
To say it’s enough
I’ve got my heart
It’s full of love
Sure it took a while to
To learn it’s enough
So let’s go for blood
Let’s go for blood
But it sure took a while to
Turn it all back
But I never gave up on me
Yeah it sure took a while to
Turn it all back
But I never gave up on me
Let’s go for blood
Meet Me In Montauk 
We’ve stuck with Voice through each season and every iteration of judging panels. So far, I’m not thrilled with the newcomers, particularly Gwen Stefani, who I find fairly shallow and uninteresting. I’ll take Shakira or Aguilara over her in the “female” chair. Pharrel is rather endearing, and I suspect will be more interesting and effective as a coach, but has half the personality of Usher and a tenth of the personality of Cee Lo.
Generally, I find the early shows the most compelling with the conceit of the truly blind audition. I become less interested through the battle rounds and voting, where the show basically becomes like American Idol, except, as you indicated, the dimension of possibly watching a future megastar evolve before your eyes.
Incidentally, the most amusing aspect of the viewing experience of late is watching my son jump off the couch to declare a particular contestant, based on backstory, to be his “guy” to go all the way, only to then watch as not a single chair turns.😄
One would think the odds are that one of these finalists would make a splash in the music industry at some point. Guess we will see if this year produces that person. If not, the judges’ mantra declaring these people “stars” will just become increasingly hollow and laughable.
Dia was actually just featured on a track from Watsky’s album 🙂 Thought i’d share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Ui9yr6GQ0 Not watching The Voice since it is hard to keep up with on a college schedule, but interested to see if there are any stand out performances or moments worth sharing through clips!